As we are already two weeks into the new year, I am still thinking about what the new year could bring. In my free time, I like to watch Youtube and I happened to see a video by Rachel Ballinger. She made a video about her predictions of the new year and, as crazy as they may have sounded, it seemed fun to predict the future. So I decided to come up with some predictions of my own and luckily, since I am documenting them here, I can come back later and see what predictions were correct. I challenge you to make your own predictions of the new year too!

Brick and Mortar Stores/Malls Will Continue To Close

It has been in the news for several years that going to stores and shopping is on the decline. Online shopping is becoming more popular and let alone easier. Stores like Amazon or even store that have the “pick up” option enable people to not have to work as hard to get what they need. In stores like Walmart and Target, you don’t even have to go into the store to get your groceries. You can pull up to a certain parking spot and they will bring your items to your car. Likewise, when I go to the Huntington Mall, I strongly believe that there is yet another store that has closed down due to these trends.

Personalized Voicemail 

Now hear me out, I know this weird, or maybe it’s already been created, but imagine being able to have different voicemail tracks for all the different types of people in your life. I find it a bit boring to just have a standard voicemail for everyone. I know mine is “Hello this is Meredith and please leave a message and I will call you back.” If I were to miss a call, I would want my friends to hear some like this “Hey girl, sorry I missed your call, send me a text because I prefer to text.” I wouldn’t want my pastor or mom to hear that same track. I doubt this will actually happen, but it would be nice.

Paperless Checks

I know no one really writes checks anymore,but my mom still does so it would be geared more toward her generation. Imagine if your bank had an app on your phone and you could write a digital check. It would be like Apple Pay. This way we are saving paper and you wouldn’t have to balance your checkbook because your balance would show up on the app. You also wouldn’t have to worry about bouncing checks because it would go through instantly if you had the money. This would save you from the overdraft fees.

Youtube Will Lose Its Popularity

Youtube has been recently changing to conform with the new laws that protect the rights of children. Creators will be making less money due to the less ad revenue and the type of content standards are changing. Youtube has split into two categories videos can be listed as “made for children” or “videos not made for children.”.If you tag your video as “made for children,” you lose the ability for ad revenue. This means less money will be made from your videos. Youtube also has to control to label videos themselves. Creators are tired of fooling with this and they will simply stop posting videos.

Instagram Takes Away The Ability To See Other Creators Likes

Social media has taken control of the world. Sadly, our world has turned into life being always a competition. We are always looking to see how many likes you have gotten versus someone else. Instagram already views this as a problem. I believe this is the year it will happen and it will only benefit us!